Your head is full of information learned at seminars. Your tackle box has
never been more organized and full of fish catching ThunderSticks and BuckShot
Jigs. Over the long winter you've seen our videos and read every walleye article
you could get your hands on. Now all you have to do is find the fish, 'cause if
you're not fishing where the walleyes are this Spring, you sure aren't going to
catch any.

This article on finding Spring walleyes will hopefully make all your early
trips a big success.

Generally speaking, springtime walleyes are shallow, 15 feet or less. That's
true in the Great Lakes, rivers, natural lakes and reservoirs. When the water
temperature reaches the low 40s, walleyes move to shallow spawning areas or find
baitfish around emergent vegetation in warming shallow water.

When walleyes are real shallow (less than 5 feet), electronics aren't very
useful since the boat spooks the fish. You have to fish to find them. Start in a
high percentage area like a hard bottom shoreline, a rocky reef, a stretch of
rip rap or a shallow point and prepare to pitch jigs to cover lots of water.
Covering water doesn't mean setting the bowmount trolling motor on high and
retrieve the jig back fast. The fish are sluggish this time of year.

We've found that most early walleyes hit the lure as soon as it hits bottom
or within the first couple of short, slow pulls after it's on the bottom. By
choosing a heavier, 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jig, it will sink quickly allowing us to
move along at a moderate pace with the front trolling motor, pitching out in
front of the boat with lots of fairly short casts. After each cast let the jig
and bait hit bottom, lift the jig off bottom six inches and then let it pendulum
back to the bottom. This is repeated a couple of times before reeling in to make
another cast.

The idea of this pitching approach is to make fish contact and therefore find
what sort of area the fish are using on that particular day.

As soon as we get a bite, we back off and use our Minn Kota 48AT bowmount to
maintain position. We also switch to a lighter jig , like a 1/16-ouncer, making
it easier for a walleye to suck the lure into it's mouth. A compact jig with a
short-shanked hook (like the Northland Fireball) is perfect for this sort of
pitching. It puts the brightly colored head close to the minnow, leech or
crawler and helps the walleye get the hook in its mouth. Once in the mouth, the
Fireball's wide gap hook has a great chance of contacting flesh when you set the
hook.

Two years ago we switched all our jigging rods to the new no- stretch,
6-pound test Berkley FireLine (two-pound diameter). Not only does the thin
diameter enhance your feel of the jig when the wind is blowing, but the
no-stretch property of this space age stuff telegraphs bottom composition - and
lets you feel the lightest bite. Feeling the bottom will indicate what is
holding the fish in a particular spot - you might feel pebbles or small weeds or
the bottom go from hard to soft when you get a bite. You can then look for other
spots with the same type of bottom in different parts of the lake.

If you can't find the fish shallow, look for them in slightly deeper water.
Lots of times they will be on adjacent, shallow flats when the water temperature
approaches 50 degrees. Start looking for walleyes on your electronics - they'll
usually appear as small bumps on the bottom, sometimes just a widening of the
dark line above the gray line. One way to spot these fish is with a unit with
lots of vertical pixels (the Lowrance LMS 350As have 200 v.p., the Lowrance
X-85s and Eagle Optimas have 240 v.p.). These tiny squares on the LCG screen
darken to relay the bottom signal. The more pixels, the more precise the picture
of the bottom.

Once you start seeing lots of fishy looking bumps, it's time to cover this
water with a bottom bouncer and a healthy live crawler, leech, minnow. Or try a
crankbait set to tick the bottom. Let's take a quick look at both techniques.

We use long wire Northland Rock Runner bottom bouncers. The "L" shaped wire
keeps the bait above snags and adds action to the bait. As it moves along the
bottom the long wire falls forward, camming the short arm which gives the live
bait an erratic action. For most applications on shallow flats, we use a
3/4-ounce Rock Runner and pull the boat slowly enough with the bowmount trolling
motor to establish good bottom contact. Attach a 6 foot leader with light wire
hooks (1 for leeches or minnows, a 2 hook harness for crawlers) and you'll have
a deadly spring presentation. Really, nothing could be simpler.

Crankbaits take a bit more practice than bottom bouncers, but not much.
Select a crankbait that will run right at the bottom, without getting snagged
very often. We often take a medium diver like a Storm Rattlin' ThinFin or a
deeper diver like the Deep ThunderStick Junior and set it so it will run right
above the bottom.

We've also switched to the fine-diameter 10/4 FireLine for crankbait fishing.
With the super thin FireLine, you don't need to let as much line out to make the
cranks run deep. And, when flat lining (no boards), you can feel every move the
crankbait makes - if it picks up some gunk off the bottom, you'll know it right
away and can reel up to clean the hook. Incidentally, because non-stretch
FireLine is less forgiving, fish can sometimes shake free when using standard
trebles. We put Mustad Triple Grip trebles on our lures because the inward bend
won't let fish get off.

For either bottom bouncers or crankbaits, run the rigs behind in-line Side
Planer boards. In shallow water spooking is a major problem - spreading lines is
the cure. Because FireLine is so thin and so slick, you will want to attach the
Offshore Side Planer Boards by putting the line through the pinch pads, wrapping
the line over the top of the release and then back through the pads a second
time. Since Offshore's boards are weighted, even at the slow speeds you'll be
fishing the bottom bouncers, the boards will spread nicely to the side.

Spring fishing is the most anticipated time of year for many walleye anglers.
A great formula for success is to start by looking for walleyes in shallow
water. Then use all that winter research and well-organized tackle to put lots
of fish in the boat.